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Bandana lovers, assemble! Check out the artwork for the first four bandanas in the #punkrockbandanacrew series. Available for pre-order now. Shipping as a four pack in February.

4. Jon Langford, OG punker with a message worthy of any neck @jonlangfordoffical
5. Mark Robinson, with a design that screams TEEN BEAT! @teenbeat
6. Unstoppable doodler Jacy Webster @phreexch_jacy with a nature’s camo design that’s fitting for any strapping fieldhand in your life.
7. #rickfroberg (RIP) We’re working with Sohrab Habibion (Edsel, @savakband) to reissue a design that Rick created for their band @obits.

Click the link in bio to join our kerchief cult and pre-order these four bandanas for a 4-pack price of $80 plus postage. That’s a $20 savings off of buying them individually. And it’s subscribers first! Any that are left over, we will sell as singles.

If you join the crew, you’ll also be the first to see and hear about the designs by:
@dabnose
@cynthi4connolly
@tarajaneoneil with @rachelcarns
@katesamworth
@temporary_occupant of #antiquarianstickerbook and @summer_guitars
Jen Farrell from @starshapedpress
Chicago based visual artist and musician Damon Locks @blackmonumentensemble
Jeff Mueller from @dexterityletterpress

Join us!

Pre-orders here
https://www.simplemachinesrecords.com/shop

More about the bandana series
https://www.simplemachinesrecords.com by @simplemachinesrecords

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9 months ago

Happy release day to @talesofbraveida album I Know About You, which originally came out in 1996 on Simple Machines. An absolutely stunning double LP reissue by @thenumerogroup with a whole bunch of previously unreleased material from that year.

Philly friends! Ida is at @johnnybrendas on Sunday. Full band! I’ll see you in the front row. by @simplemachinesrecords

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a day ago

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When you can’t get to the @simplemachinesrecords pop-up at @thenumerogroup so you bring the pop-up to you, Part 2: Thanks, Kristin! @kristinsthomson ❤️ by @simplemachinesrecords

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a month ago

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When you can’t get to the @simplemachinesrecords pop-up at @thenumerogroup , you bring Simple Machines to you…Part 1

I think I’ve heard these songs before. Someone must have had the cd and transferred it to tape, because I’m pretty sure I was in a car in the early/mid 90s listening to them.
But it’s been that long, and I’ve since forgotten most of them.
So when the fomo got the best of me and discogs was just a click away…
Here’s the Working Holiday box set with the Birthday Gift - a special issue of Duplex Planet.

Now that I’ve just finished listening to the entire box set in one sitting, here are some opinions:
1. July is the my favorite record. Nothing Painted Blue is great rock and roll and Lois is so very catchy.
2. Scrawl, Lungfish, Lois, Tsunami, and Swirlies have the songs I like the most (in no particular order).
3. The secret ingredient here is clearly love. There was so much thought and care put into this, and it’s evident almost 35 years later.

Now I just need that calendar… by @simplemachinesrecords

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a month ago

We had such fun during the Simple Machines takeover at the @thenumerogroup NYC Factory Outlet last weekend. Thanks to friends old and new who stopped by! taken in Front Street New York by @simplemachinesrecords

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2 months ago

Simple Machines takeover at @thenumerogroup day 3/3. Grand closing for us today. Running low on some things, but there’s still a good selection of tshirts and bandanas. Come peruse. by @simplemachinesrecords

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2 months ago

Day 2 of Simple Machines posting up at the Numero NYC shop at 186 Front St. at the Seaport. Come on down and take a photo in front of the giant sprocket quilt done by @jtimmy2 by @simplemachinesrecords

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2 months ago

We’re all set up at the @thenumerogroup factory outlet at the Seaport. Shorts, LPs, CDs, 7 inches, punk rock bandanas, candles, matches, dice, weird stuff. Come see us! 186 Front St., New York City. Friday through Sunday. by @simplemachinesrecords

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2 months ago

If we couldn’t convince you to stop by our NYC Factory Outlet this summer, maybe Simple Machines can. What’s better than one record label pop-up? Two record labels at the same place, at the same time.

From August 21st through the 23rd, Simple Machines will be taking over our NYC Factory Outlet for a special shop takeover with tons of their records.

Founded in Arlington, Virginia in 1989 by Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson of Tsunami, and friends, Simple Machines was built around a collective of people who wanted to find creative ways to release and share music that didn’t follow the rules of the established music business. The label put that idea into practice, releasing affordable and thoughtfully made records, 7” collections and compilations while actively sharing the knowledge and tools needed for other artists and labels to do the same.

They created The Mechanic’s Guide, a zine based on demystifying everything from manufacturing and distribution to the basics of running a record label. They built a network where other independent artists and labels could operate on their own and collaborate when needed, encouraging people to call and ask them questions or for guidance.

We’ve had the privilege of reissuing a number of records from their catalog, and even put together a box set celebrating Tsunami. We’re excited to celebrate the records they put out and the people that made this independent scene thrive.

What records do you want to pick up from them?

photos 1,6 and 7 by @instapatgraham by @simplemachinesrecords

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2 months ago

In January 1996, during a blizzard that shut down New York City, Dan Littleton and his brother Miggy fishtailed a borrowed Hyundai across the Williamsburg Bridge, hauling gear through near-whiteout conditions to Excello Studios in Brooklyn. Inside, Ida, the duo of Dan Littleton and Liz Mitchell, joined by Miggy on drums and Rose Thomson of the band Babe the Blue Ox on bass, spent two weeks recording the songs they’d spent the past year rehearsing, arguing over, and quietly perfecting in their apartment. The result was I Know About You, the 1996 sophomore album that took the hushed intimacy of their debut and taught it how to hold a room.

The album takes its title from Ida Machado Schaefer, a sharp, cranky, magnetic woman in her late eighties whom Liz and Dan met on a road trip in the early ‘90s. That Ida was the kind of person who’d wag a finger and announce “I know about you” before launching into a story that blurred memory, myth, and truth. Her spirit runs through every track: songs that are less diary entries than composites, emotional weather systems built from real fights, real tenderness, and real friendship, refusing to resolve into either love songs or breakup songs.

We’re proud to bring I Know About You back into the world in true Numero Group fashion complete with a full disc plus of bonus audio, dozens of photos and liner notes from two people uniquely positioned to tell its story: writer Sara Marcus, who booked Ida’s earliest college shows and watched the band up close as a teenager, and Jenny Toomey (Tsunami, Simple Machines), Dan’s longtime friend and collaborator, who was there when the songs were still cassette-tape secrets. Together, their notes trace the record from those blizzard-bound sessions to its lasting influence on a generation of quietly devastating indie rock.

caption continued in comments by @simplemachinesrecords

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2 months ago

Punk rock bandana #3 is Nature’s Camo by awesome artist Jacy Webster @phreexch_jacy from Philadelphia Record Exchange and many bands, including Strapping Fieldhands that managed to rhyme Susquehanna with something cool.

Pick up Jacy’s bandana, or go for the 4 pack! All available now at Simple Machines website for updating your spring look. Link in bio.

#punkrockbandanacrew by @simplemachinesrecords

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7 months ago

First #punkrockbandanacrew orders are getting packaged up. Mailorder muscle memory has kicked in.

First set includes bandanas designed by the late Rick Froberg @obits, Mark Robinson from @teenbeat, Jacy Webster from @phreexch_jacy and Jon Langford @jonlangfordoffical. Link in bio to acquire!

🎵Hot Seat by Empire

Thanks to @phreexch_jacy for outfitting the Simple Machines cog. by @simplemachinesrecords

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8 months ago